TIMING OF REGISTRATION FOR ANTENATAL CARE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN DELIVERING IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN AN URBAN AREA

INTRODUCTION: Antenatal care (ANC) services has the potential to affect maternal and foetal outcome positively. The ideal gestational age for booking is within the first ten weeks of pregnancy. METHODOLOGY: An Institution based cross-sectional study amongst puerperal women was conducted at B.J. Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospitals, Pune, Maharashtra, India. Variables studied were socio-demographic factors, parity, complications in previous pregnancy etc. Analysis was done with the Fishers exact test. RESULTS: Out of the total 370 women, 38% reported late/no ANC registration. The husband and wife's education, husband's alcoholism, history of complication in previous pregnancy were significantly associated with the time of ANC registration. Early registered women revealed a positive impact on the number of ANC visits; number of ferrous sulphate (FS) & Folic acid (FA) consumed and birth weight. Strongest driving force to seek ANC was 'to know the fetal condition'. Women were referred for Ultrasonography without ANC registration and very few had been advised timely anomaly scan. CONCLUSION: There is scope to improve early ANC registration if special efforts are taken to enroll the women at risk of late/no registration, focus on the benefits of early registration and tap the missed opportunities.